3Grammar and explanations
Thirty-five letters
Mongolian has been written in the Cyrillic alphabet since the 1940s. It uses the 33 letters of the Russian alphabet plus two letters of its own, Ө ө and Ү ү. Here are all 35, in dictionary order. The middle column shows how this course writes each letter in Latin letters. In this first unit only, a word may be followed by that spelling in square brackets: ам [am].
| Letter | Written | Example |
|---|
| А а | a | ам [am] mouth |
| Б б | b | бар [bar] tiger |
| В в | v | төв [töv] centre |
| Г г | g | гэр [ger] ger, home |
| Д д | d | давс [davs] salt |
| Е е | ye | ес [yes] nine |
| Ё ё | yo | ёс [yos] custom |
| Ж ж | j | жил [jil] year |
| З з | z | зам [zam] road |
| И и | i | их [ikh] big |
| Й й | i | сайн [sain] good |
| К к | k | кино [kino] cinema |
| Л л | l | лам [lam] lama |
| М м | m | мах [makh] meat |
| Н н | n | ном [nom] book |
| О о | o | том [tom] big |
| Ө ө | ö | өдөр [ödör] day |
| П п | p | паспорт [pasport] passport |
| Р р | r | орон [oron] country |
| С с | s | сүү [süü] milk |
| Т т | t | тав [tav] five |
| У у | u | ус [us] water |
| Ү ү | ü | үс [üs] hair |
| Ф ф | f | фото [foto] photo |
| Х х | kh | хот [khot] city |
| Ц ц | ts | цай [tsai] tea |
| Ч ч | ch | чулуу [chuluu] stone |
| Ш ш | sh | шөл [shöl] soup |
| Щ щ | shch | only in a few Russian words |
| Ъ ъ | (hard sign, no sound) | явъя [yavya] let's go |
| Ы ы | y | таны [tany] your |
| Ь ь | ' (soft sign) | морь [mor'] horse |
| Э э | e | энэ [ene] this |
| Ю ю | yu | юу [yuu] what |
| Я я | ya | ямаа [yamaa] goat |
Do not try to learn the table in one sitting. Read it once now and come back to it: lessons 2 to 8 take the letters a few at a time.
Letters you already know
Five letters look like English letters and sound like them: А, К, М, О, Т. You can already read том (big) and ам (mouth). A sixth, Е, is only half a friend: it looks like E, but it begins with a y sound, as in ес [yes] (nine).
том[tom] big
ам[am] mouth
The six false friends
Six letters look exactly like Latin letters and say something else. They are the real difficulty of the alphabet, because your eye recognises them at once and reads them wrong.
| Letter | Looks like | Is read |
|---|
| В в | B | v |
| Н н | H | n |
| Р р | P | r |
| С с | C | s |
| У у | Y | u |
| Х х | X | kh |
төв[töv] centre, not "töb"
ном[nom] book, not "hom"
бар[bar] tiger, not "bap"
сайн[sain] good, not "cain"
улс[uls] state, country, not "yls"
хол[khol] far, not "xol"
Two new letters: Ө and Ү
Ө ө is an о with a bar across it, and Ү ү is a у with a straight tail. They are separate vowels, not decorated versions of о and у, and they change the meaning of a word: ус [us] is water, үс [üs] is hair. Lesson 3 teaches you to hear them.
өдөр[ödör] day
үс[üs] hair
Go deeper in the grammar guide: The Mongolian Cyrillic alphabet · Mongolian vowels
4Good to know
The Mongolian word for the alphabet is Цагаан толгой [Tsagaan tolgoi], literally "white head". Mongolian children learn their Цагаан толгой in their first year at school. Mongolia also has a traditional vertical script, written in columns from top to bottom. It is taught at school, and you will meet it in lesson 152. Everyday life, though, is in Cyrillic: street signs, menus, newspapers and text messages.
